Well, there goes my Start menu...

Most likely so, and that someone would be, well, how do I put this... me.

I tried a reg restore to a prior state but while some previous settings were evident, the Start menu remained kerblapt.

Is there a simple way to drag it back? I realize the Start menu is really just a shortcut list, and I can go thru the tedious process of creating links to every single $^#&!! app I have, but I don' wanna. Nor can I seem to get it back to normal via winexplorer.

!pleH

... which is to say, I got it to work by adding a second PROGRAMS entry to the Start menu, but now I've got two and it's bugging me, man. I want my, I want my, I want my start menu back... dah de dum...

Assuming you don't use profiles, there are two relevant subfolders of Windows.
One is Desktop, which contains (with me) a shortcut corresponding to every item I put on it. It can also contain files and folders, but that's a feature I don't use.
The other is Start Menu, which might contain some links you see at the top of the start menu (Recent documents, settings, search etc are added via the registry) and, most important, the Programs (sub)folder. That in turn contains links and other folders.

Dragging a folder (like Start Menu to the Desktop-folder can be undone by dragging it again from the Desktop-folder to where it belongs, which is directly below the Windows folder. Explorer is the tool to do such.

And, yes, the directory structure is not kept in the registry, so a scanreg /restore won't help at all, as you know by know.

Kees

of answering the question that was asked and not giving the real solution to the problem. As Dear Abby used to say, "mea culpa".

1. You're excused.
2. I didn't know Dear Abby (living in Holland, you know - we only had 'Lieve Lita'), but google gives quite a few hits, even for "dear abby" "mea culpa", so I really learned something this evening.

Kees